Wednesday, December 31, 2014

The Christmas season flew by, I have to admit I have a little bit of the post Christmas blues as I look at our house and know that I need to start taking down the Christmas decorations. It's always fun to put them out, but not quite as fun to pack them back up. It's a daunting task! I got back in the late afternoon yesterday from Orange and just wanted to relax. Today is our last day of Christmas break! Dane goes back to school tomorrow the 6th of January. So, It may be a few more days before I have time to start taking everything down!

We had a great Christmas day, it was a low key and relaxing day with just the four of us. It started off bright and early, as usual. Jace didn't sleep great that night, but I kind of figured that would happen. After getting him back to sleep I fell into my bed, and it felt like right when I dozed off Dane came running into our room that Santa had come, and for us to get up quick! It was barely 6:00 when Dane was up and wired! He was ready to tear into the presents. Jman was still sleeping, so Dane got to open all of his gifts and get our full attention which was great. Dane got a lot of great stuff, and he was truly excited with every gift that he opened. Santa's big gift to him was his very own personal set of golf clubs. Dane told Kevin that he was excited that he had clubs just like him, and asked if they could play golf together. Dane starts a little 5 week session of golf lessons in a couple weeks, which he is excited about! Santa also brought him a Fusion lego set, Superman legos that he was wanting, a couple DS games and a stocking filled with fun stuff. Dane was also over the moon when he first looked under the tree and saw a big present with a note on it from Dopey that was for the whole family. Dopey left him an Atari game system. Yes, an Atari that us kids played with back in the '80's!! This was more of a "WE" gift for him and Kevin. Because when Kevin heard that Bed Bath and Beyond was selling them for dirt cheap, he freaked out and told me that we had to buy it for Christmas!! HA We had to explain to Dane what it was, because he had no idea. But, hearing that this was something that his dad played with when he was a kid he was over the moon excited! It came with 90ish games, so Dane was shocked that it had that many games with it. I felt like this Christmas was a bit of a throwback Christmas. Dane got several things that Kevin or I had as a child. He got this Atari system, he also got a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle old school Nintendo game that Kevin found at a Game Stop, and just had to have. Yes, we have one of the old school Nintendo game systems. :) We have had it for years, before Dane was in the mix! He was excited to get a new game for the Nintendo, because it's not every day that he gets new games for that. Dane also got a Simon game... remember those? And also, some Encyclopedia Brown books that Kevin read as a child. And the board game Clue, which I loved playing when I was a kid. Dane saw this game when we were at Bahama Bucks getting snow cones during the summer and was intrigued. He loves anything that has to do with mysteries. He had a great time, he LOVED everything he got and even did several happy dances because he was just too excited!

After Dane opened all his gifts we had time to make breakfast tacos and cinnamon rolls and mimosas for us adults. We enjoyed breakfast and Dane got to start working on a lego set before Jace woke up and it was his turn. His timing couldn't have been more perfect. Dane got our full attention while opening his gifts, and we got to enjoy a peaceful breakfast and we relaxed while drinking our mimosas, and then Jace woke up in a great mood. Dane was so cute when he was telling Jace all that he got from Santa. He was just as excited to open Jace's gifts for him as he was about his own. He is so sweet to him. Jace got a lot of great stuff also. I have a confession. And I'm not ashamed to admit it. With the exception of 3 things, Santa was able to find all of Jace's presents in a closet where we stored all of Dane's baby toys for years. These were in excellent condition, and had been put up for so long that Dane had no idea we had them. I knew that Jace getting presents from Santa was important to Dane, and since he is a baby and doesn't require much I didn't want to spend a ton of money on him when we have a closet full of toys that were like brand new. So, Santa bought him a new swing like the one Dane had when he was a baby. The one we had got cracked and warped. Santa also got him a giraffe teething toy, and some cute teething balls that are all different shapes, and a couple sippy cups were in his stocking. Some of his other gifts were a couple books that have buttons that can be pushed to make music, a toy that has little doors that can be popped up, a baby piano, an inflatable weighted toy, musical toys etc. Jace had a great 1st Christmas! He enjoyed playing with the wrapping paper, bows, and his toes more than anything!! :)

Dane was so excited to open up the gift that he picked out for Jace which was little stacking cups he can play with in the bath tub. And Dane was just as excited that Jace "picked out" a gift for him which was a slime making kit. Yes, not sure what Jace was thinking when he picked that out. MESSY! Sigh.

After all the gifts were opened and Jace went back down for a nap we drank more mimosas and watched Christmas movies the entire day. Dane spent hours working on his lego sets, and playing with all his new stuff. We relaxed and stayed in our pjs the entire day. It was great, and just what we needed after a busy week before, and a busy week coming up after Christmas. It was a perfect little day. Later that afternoon I baked a cake for Jesus's birthday, and we had leftover enchiladas for dinner and that was it. Christmas was a success!

His eyes immediately went to the note on the present from Dopey!

The kid loves gum! So, he got several packs of different kinds of gum instead of candy in his stocking.

We are always looking for pencils and erasers here since he likes to write. The more the better!

Old school nintendo game!!

The ghostbuster lego set was defintely a good surprise! Not something he asked for, but something I knew he would be excited about. Kevin asked him if he thought it was cool, and he said "are you kidding me??? This is TOTALLY AWESOME!!!"

Another hit was a homemade gift that cost no money! Kevin is a big music person, has tons of music on his computer. Dane has been asking for cds that he could listen to upstairs in his playroom. Santa brought him a kid bop cd in his stocking. But, Kevin also burned him a couple cds from music that he has that are songs like Dane loves. He named the cds Dane volume 1 and 2. Dane couldn't get over that you can "make" cds. He was really excited about it, and gave Kevin a BIG thank you for it. He has been jamming the music ever since.

Kevin's Aunt Barby sent both the boys a cute sweat shirt and a book. Very sweet of her to think of the boys.

Jackie had a present here for the boys to open before our trip. Dane was excited to get 3 diary of a wimpy kid books. He loves reading, and this is his favorite series right now.

Doing the happy dance

He looks good swinging those golf clubs!

He's ready with his golf clubs, balls, and glove!

The cute book Aunt Barby sent

Pjs from Grandma and Grandpa

He loves his girafee

Can't wait to get this swing hung and sit outside with my little guy!

Can you tell who hung up the empty stockings?? Give you a hint... it wasn't me. :)